U.S. Court Ruling Seen as Aiding Tamil Rebels
By Amantha Perera

BERKELEY, United States, Jan 16 (IPS) - A U.S. court ruling could ease efforts to raise funds for the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, where the rebels are bolstering civil projects amid a cease-fire with government forces.

A federal appeals court in California has declared unconstitutional significant parts of a criminal statute that bars material support for organizations in the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Some experts said the decision would ease restrictions on humanitarian aid in conflict zones while others noted that despite the 23-month cease-fire, the combatants have yet to tackle the need to disarm.

The U.S. court issued its decision last month after the non-governmental Center for Constitutional Rights challenged the statute on behalf of groups and individuals supporting the Tigers and Kurdish rebels in Turkey.

"This decision will mitigate the substantial chilling effect that the statute has cast over those who seek to provide humanitarian aid to conflict-ridden areas," David Cole, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington who appeared for the plaintiffs, said soon after the decision.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), as the Tigers are formally known, coordinate all humanitarian relief and development work in areas under their control. International agencies like the World Bank and the United Nations work through the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), a registered non-governmental organization, despite criticism that the group is a Tiger front.

Critics note that the head of the TRO's Australia arm, Joy Maheshwaran, has served as an economic adviser to the Tigers in talks with the government.

"In these circumstances, how can the TRO claim that it is not part of the LTTE," said Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, principal researcher at the Point Pedro Institute of Development in northern Sri Lanka.

Since entering into a cease-fire with the Sri Lankan government in February 2002, the Tigers have strengthened their civil administration apparatus. In a recent interview, Tiger political head S.P. Tamilselvan said that the rebels felt a moral responsibility to set up "at least a semblance of civil life" in areas under their control.

On New Year's Day, the Tigers opened a Planning and Development Secretariat to coordinate development work under proposals to set up an interim administration.

In court papers, the plaintiffs in the U.S. case noted that the Tigers had "established a quasi-governmental structure".

The cease-fire has increased the financial demands on the LTTE to provide civil administration apparatus, some observers say, noting that the rebels' overseas fundraising efforts have not abated since the fighting stopped.

However, Tamils living in Australia, Britain and Canada have said that the emphasis has shifted towards funding humanitarian efforts. Prior to the cease-fire, the Tigers had openly raised funds for military use like buying anti-aircraft weapons.

Rohan Gunaratna, international terrorism expert at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, nevertheless believes that the Tigers are still using substantial amounts to buy arms.

"The LTTE banking and procurement network is active. It is continuing to build up its military capability," he said.

The LTTE raises one million dollars per month, according to Chris Smith of Kings College London.

Gunaratna estimated that only about 10,000 dollars per month is raised in the United States because the Tigers' support base here is small.

Regardless of the sums, at least some of the money still is spent on weapons, Smith said in a study published by the Swiss-based Small Arms Survey last October.

"Weapons are financed primarily by expatriate Tamils who have supported the LTTE cause," he said.

The study estimated that there were approximately 1.9 million small arms in Sri Lanka, a ratio of ten firearms for every 100 citizens.

In another study on arms proliferation released last October, international pressure groups Amnesty International and Oxfam described the social impact of a quarter century of conflict in the island.

"Armed violence, triggered by freely available weapons, has resulted in forced displacement and a drastic decline in socio-economic status, income sources, expenditure patterns, and health care. One major impact is fear - fear of attacks," they said.

Peace talks between the Tigers and the government in Colombo have stalled since last April but the two sides have had informal discussions and earlier in the month the U.S. State Department launched an effort to revive negotiation.

Even so, decommissioning of weapons has not appeared on the agenda.

The Tigers have been at war with Colombo since the 1970s. They likely have "little initial intention of decommissioning weapons or demobilizing for a long time to come, and the leadership sees a role for its cadres in policing," Smith said in his report.

Yet, he added: "Controlling the circulation of illegal weapons in the post-conflict environment will be extremely important to the success of the peace process. Without such control, Sri Lanka will be unable to unlock the considerable economic potential that exists and make up the many lost years of development."

(END/2004)